


pandemonium

by schnaf



Series: im-prompt-u challenge [10]
Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF)
Genre: Apocalyptic AU, M/M, Open ended, did someone order a bunch of swear words?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-09
Updated: 2020-10-09
Packaged: 2021-03-08 01:53:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,324
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26917666
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/schnaf/pseuds/schnaf
Summary: The world collapses. And Phil is gone.
Relationships: Dan Howell/Phil Lester
Series: im-prompt-u challenge [10]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1969618
Comments: 4
Kudos: 14
Collections: Im-PROMPT-u Phandom Creator Challenge 2020





	pandemonium

**Author's Note:**

> day 9 of the im-prompt-u challenge - today's prompt was 'horror'! and aaaah somehow i got trapped in the romance section so i'm very glad about every opportunity to leave that corner. taking the romance with me, tho.

London is a mess.

London is a mess and today, it isn't just some mild complaints about trash on the streets, today -

London isn't recognizable anymore. This isn't the London Dan came to know the last few years. No, today, London is a literal hellscape. Grey, grey, grey everywhere and the dust just doesn't settle anymore and behind the dust clouds, you can see boulders, rough boulders in all sizes and shapes, boulders that used to be shops, museums, schools, homes, buildings of all sorts.

And yet, Dan doesn't take a look around. He's running, panting already, sweating from every pore, he has a stitch in his side and even pressing his hands against it doesn't make it go away, but he can't stop. He keeps going, running through the streets of the city he once considered a home.

God, did he make the biggest mistake of his life? Such a harmless decision - but what if it turns out to be the biggest mistake of his life?

At one street corner - or is it even a street corner? It's hard to tell, with the debris covering the actual street. - Dan stops for a moment, bending over, trying to catch his breath. He doesn't want to catch a break, though. No, he needs to find out where he is, where he needs to go. He's close to their home, that's for sure, but that's all he can tell and he can feel the panic rising yet again.

Shit, what if he doesn't make it? What if he's too late? What -

A scream. It's not that close to him, yet it's ear-piercing and Dan jumps. His heart rate increases even more. By now, he’s gotten used to the sounds - well, at least they don't bother him anymore, he just ignores them because there's something more important. Still, they startle him every now and then.

Okay. Just one more deep breath, then - Dan gets up, he tries to run again. Shit, he really can't do it anymore, it feels like he's barely dragging his feet across the ground, he doesn't know if he's even running or if he's just stumbling, but it doesn't matter. He needs to keep going, he needs to -

Phil. He needs to find Phil.

As he turns a corner, his heart skips a beat. This is his home. This is -

Where their house used to be. But there's nothing left, it's just yet another heap of stones, unrecognizable, undistinguishable. Yet, Dan knows he's right, yet, Dan knows he’s found the right place.

And over there, right in front of the spot where the entrance used to be, there's a person lying on the ground.

Please, let it be Phil.  
Please, don't let it be Phil.

Dan's lungs hurt. Still, he tries to run faster, to hurry over to the body. He almost drips, barely managing to avoid a boulder lying in his way, but it doesn't matter, all he cares about right now is reaching this person. So he doesn't look left, he doesn't look right, he just keeps going.

And yet, until the last step, he dreads looking at the person. As long as he doesn't know if it's Phil, as long as he doesn't see how he's doing, he can pretend that Phil is alright.

But he already knows the truth. He knows the truth before he kneels down next to the body, grabbing the wrist lying next to his knee.

It's Phil. The fair white skin told him so when he was a few feet away already. The pitch black hair. The slender figure. The t-shirt he saw Phil wearing before he left the house to do some shopping. (God, if he'd never left the house... Being away from Phil, not knowing where he was and what happened to him was the worst thing in the world. And even now that he’s found him... He doesn't know what happened here.)

Dan presses his thumb against Phil's artery, trying to calm down so he can focus on what he's feeling. God, please let there be a heartbeat... But he can't focus, he just can't fucking focus and his gaze wanders across Phil and -

Shit, something is wrong.

Of course, something is wrong. Everything is wrong, London shouldn't be the mess it is right now and whatever is going on here - it shouldn't be that way. On top of that, Phil shouldn't be unconscious. (Or worse.) But - there's something else.

He doesn't look messed up. He looks good. Way too good for someone who passed out, surrounded by boulders of the house they used to live in. There's not a single bruise on his body, his hair isn't ruffled at all, his hand rests on his tummy, as if he were holding a pillow like he's used to, like he does when he takes a nap on the couch.

Yes, that's it. Phil looks like he's simply taking a nap. London is destroyed and Phil looks like he's taking a nap.

Dan closes his eyes, he tries to suppress his tears. Panicking doesn't help, it doesn't help at all, he needs to stay focused, he finally needs to focus so he can help Phil even though he doesn't know if he still can help Phil, if there's anything he can do -

A scream. It's bloodcurdling and immediately, Dan opens his eyes again. As long as he has his eyes open, the noise around him isn't that overwhelming.

The noise around him. Or rather - the lack of noise. Damn, London isn't supposed to be that quiet. But this isn't the only thing that makes the silence so scary. You can hear everything in a close distance and Dan can't even tell how big this distance actually is because the dust distorts the sounds and his view.

Focus. He needs to focus. On -

Finally, he notices something against his thumb. A heartbeat. A heartbeat?

No. It's rather a hum, a drone. Not a beat but a monotonous vibration.

Dan lifts his head to look at Phil's face, he feels like every single drop of blood faded from his face. Shit, this is - okay, sure, he may be panicking, maybe he's just imagining things. But this vibration feels so real and at the same time, it's so unreal because it shouldn't be there, instead, there should be a constant thud - thud - thud.

Sirens in the air. Far away and Dan doesn't even really notice them. He feels like he's frozen, he feels like the world around him - around them - disappeared. Even though shit went down around them, even though something happened, something terrible, something that's apparently still happening, he just can't be bothered. He didn’t care before when he was trying to find Phil, but now that he found him and felt his pulse, his strange pulse...

"Oh god, Phil, oh god, oh -" He murmurs. It doesn't matter what exactly he's saying because Phil can't hear him anyways, because Phil's just laying there, his pulse being this strange vibration instead of a thud, but -

He's going mad, that's for sure. So he's willing to grasp any straw that feels real. And talking, hearing his own voice, fading away into the emptiness... It doesn't change a lot. But still, he feels the need to talk aloud.

Dan repeats Phil's name over and over again, bending over him, afraid to get closer but yearning to be closer at the same time. Shit, he has no clue what's going on but he doesn't care, he doesn't give a single shit. There's just one thing that matters right now and that's his boyfriend, that's the love of his life, that's -

All of a sudden, Phil opens his eyes. For a split second, Dan feels relieved, Dan feels like things are finally getting back together. It's a movement, it's a fucking movement, it's -

But then, he stares into Phil's eyes. The bright blue is gone.

Dan stares into an abyss.


End file.
